The Optimist Creed (part 4,5 and 6)

Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. - Christian D. Larson

This is the next three parts of "the Optimist Creed" by Christian D. Larson. Here are the first three, and here is the whole creed.

*Promise yourself to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

When something happens in my life, I always try to find something positive about it. I lost my job once, and I was sad and surprised at first, but I also saw that I wasn't happy there and I had already decided to try to find another job in a few months time. So I started to think that maybe this was what I needed to get to that point. Within a week or two I'd been asked to help out at another place, less hours more money. Even though it was only a temporary job I wouldn't have heard about it if I wasn't available. I think that whatever happens, it does so for a reason that you might not be able to see right there and then, but it will lead you closer to what you want in life. So look at the sunny side of life, it makes life easier and more fun.

*Promise yourself to think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

Do you expect the best or do you expect less than that? Most people expect less than the best because of the limiting beliefs they have. (I will get into the subject of limiting beliefs some other day) But if you think of the best, work for the best and expect the best, you will eventually get the best. The best for you, not the best for somebody else. You will get what you expect, as I've mentioned before. Do you think you are the best? I think I am the best, nobody can be me better than I can. And nobody can be you better than you can. So if I'm the best I deserve the best, so I expect the best (and I get the best)

*Promise yourself to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
If your friend lands a job you'd like, or finds the perfect boyfriend/girlfriend, or have the most fantastic house, or body, how does it make you feel? Are you genuinely happy for your friend, are you jealous or do you hold a grudge? Holding a grudge is not the same thing as being jealous. Holding a grudge is being jealous AND wanting the job INSTEAD of your friend. It is to NOT want your friend to feel the joy and happiness of getting/having it. Being jealous simply means that you would like it TOO. See the difference? Well, the best thing is neither of them though; the best alternative is to just be happy for your friend. Honestly and lovingly happy! Because the truth is that there are enough good things out there to go around. So you didn’t get that job, you’ll get something else; at least your friend is happy. Be happy and enthusiastic about the success of others and you're more likely to be successful too.

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily." - Gerald Good

Make Gratitude your Attitude!

To be thankful for all that you've got and all that you are about to get, is not as easy as you might think. But it’s not as hard as you might think either. It's a matter of opening up your eyes and your heart to your life and focus on all the good things. Gratitude is a very important key if you want to be happy.

When I wake up in the morning I feel love and happiness for waking up next to the most wonderful man, and our cat. I feel grateful for it. As I look out the window and sea the Mediterranean Sea and the horizon above the roof tops, I feel thankful. I feel grateful for my diet that allows me to have cream in my coffee. Being thankful, feeling gratitude is falling in love. I fall in love with all the people, situations and things I feel grateful for. It's great to fall in love with my man over and over again, sometimes several times a day. It makes me happy that I am thankful for everything.

I know what I expect in the future, I know what I want for me in life and I am grateful for that. I know I will get it all, as long as I"m thankful for what is to come. If you think that I sound like a religious fanatic now, you are wrong. I am not religious, although I might be a bit of a fanatic. But here"s the thing. Since I started to be thankful for things in my life (big and small) my life has turned around. I used to be a lot more depressed; I used to think that life treated me bad and unfair. That everybody else was better off than I was. I used to think that I would never find what I wanted in life and that I would never be as happy as I wanted to be.

Do you think that your house is too small, or your clothes are too old? Or maybe your hair is too straight, or your teeth are too yellow? Be grateful that you have a house, and that you have clothes. Be thankful that you still have your own hair and your own teeth. There are possibilities to be grateful for everything, every little detail, in your life. All the things you feel bad about, there is something about them to feel thankful for.

I can't remember what put me on to try thankfulness, but whatever it was I am thankful for it. Today I am happier than I ever thought possible. My dream about living by the blue sea under the warm sun came true. My dream about writing has come true with this blog. My dream of being happy came true. My dream about finding the perfect man for me came true. I believe it all started with gratitude for what I already had, back then. I still have a lot of dreams to fulfill and a lot of dreams to expand. They will all come true too, I know that, and I am thankful for it. All my dreams will come true!! How cool is that?!

What are you thankful for in your life? List all the things in your life that you love, no matter how small and silly it seems. Those things are what you should be grateful for, that is what you should focus on. Be grateful, it will change your life around to the better!

"The world is full of abundance and opportunity, but far too many people come to the fountain of life with a sieve instead of a tank car… a teaspoon instead of a steam shovel. They expect little and as a result they get little." - Ben Sweetland

Life is a self fulfilling prophecy where you get what you expect.

Most people think that they can't have it all. That they have to choose between all they want in life. I don't believe that to be the truth. I think that you get what you think you expect, or what you think you deserve. If you expect little you will get little, but that also means that if you expect a lot you will get a lot. As Oprah said; "You get in life what you have the courage to ask for".It's a self fulfilling prophecy. All the good things in my life, I expected to get before I got them. But I also expected all the bad things I've been through. Of course, I didn't see it at the time, it's not until now that I can look back and say; "wow, I expected (not always consciously) that to happen, and it did". Scary? Or up lifting? I think it is the latter, because it  puts me in control of what happens, right? And I like being in control of my life.

Say you are looking for a new car, and in a perfect world you want it to be a red convertible, with white leather seats and a white top, and you want it a good price for you. Now, people might tell you that you can't have all that for the price you are willing to pay and you start to question what you are asking for. Maybe you don't really need it to be a red car, or maybe it doesn't have to be a convertible, or have white leather seats. And maybe it can have a black top. All of a sudden the car that you want is now a blue sedan with black fabric seats, because that is all you can get for the price you want to pay. That is the expectations you have. But what would happen if you didn't listen to what other people, or your own expectations, say? Could there be a chance that you might be able to get the car of your true dreams for the price you are willing to pay? I think it is highly possible, and even highly likely.

It's the same with everything in life, I think. If you expect to meet the best man in the world, you will. But if you expect to meet yet another cheating bastard you will. If you expect your day to go badly it sure will, but if you expect your day to be good it will be good. I've always gotten what I expected, good and bad, big and small. I am still learning to expect the big stuff, but at least I have learned to expect the good stuff. It is a long process, and some people catch up easy and some people need longer time to get it. I’ve needed a longer time, but that's all in my expectations. And at least I got it now, which I also expected. Next step for me is to start dreaming big, to start expecting big. Where are you? Do you expect the big and the best stuff for yourself or do you settle for the small and not so good stuff, because that's all you can get? Do you think that it has to one or the other, or do you believe you can have it all?

I’m getting it all, I’m sure of that! I hope you are too! (And by the way, there is more than enough out there for every one.)